A Gourmet Marshmallow Café Just Opened in Chicago

Joining the ranks of specialty dessert spots, like the Museum of Ice Cream and DŌ, a café that serves safe-to-eat cookie dough, is a gourmet marshmallow café, being brought to life by marshmallow company XO Marshmallow.

The café, officially open in Chicago, sounds like it will be epic. Features will include a full espresso bar and a s'mores station, and the menu will offer gooey delights like taco s'mores, marshmallow cones, whoopie pies, frozen hot chocolate, marshmallow dream bars, and toasted marshmallow lattes. The café will also house a shop where customers can buy boxes of gourmet marshmallows, homemade salted caramel sauce, and more.

XO Marshmallow is a gourmet marshmallow brand founded in January 2016; through its website, it sells a variety of uniquely flavored marshmallows. Some flavors are also available as a MarsHalo, which is a doughnut-shaped marshmallow that perfectly fits on top of a mug.

You can build your own s'more or pick from the shop's salted caramel, fluffernutter, and donut s'mores.

Photo by Michelle Cox Photography/Courtesy XO Marshmallow

Because of their success thus far, the brand's co-founders Kat Connor and Lindzi Shanks decided to translate their online business into a brick-and-mortar restaurant experience. But it wasn't always set in stone; the pair turned to crowdfunding on Kickstarter to raise money for the space. "Recently, we were offered a wonderful retail space to open our very first marshmallow wonderland!" reads a statement on the Kickstarter page. "This new location would give us much needed kitchen space, the opportunity to hire additional marshmallow elves, and bring the magic of s'mores, hot chocolate, and brand new treats to you every day! We do not want to turn this wonderful opportunity down, but we need your help to make it happen."

The Kickstarter raised nearly $10,000—which is $3,000 more than its original goal. And so, the people have spoken. Marshmallows for all!